Duplicate-whist board



r J. E. PLEW DUPLICATE WHIST BOARD I y. 2:. 92a 3 2 @9- 1 f a Patented Jan. 31, 1928.

UNITED STATES JAMES E. PLEW, OF VALPARAISO, FLORIDA.

DUPLICATE-WHIST BOARD.

7 Application filed October 22, 1926. Serial No. 143,506.

In order to make the game of duplicate whist of any of the various kinds a successful measure of the relative merits of the players, it is necessary that there be a considerabie number of separate hands dealt, in order that the players may not remember the run of the cards when a hand is being replayed. To this end there should be at least a dozen decks of cards each of which is dealt or separated into four separate packs. Since the cards themselves cannotbe marked, some means must be provided to hold the four packs of each deck in delinite relative positions corresponding to the assumed positions of four players; and it must be possible to maintain the four parts of each deck separated from each other and positioned in proper relation to each other after a hand has been played and until the same hand is to be replayed.

The object of the present invention is to produce a simple and novel holder for the cards for a duplicate whist game, that will answer the aforesaid requirements, be cheap, and be compact in form even when containing a deck of cards separated into four parts. I

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; but, for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects and ad vantages, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein: I

Figure 1 is a plan view of one of my im proved holders, opened and containing the cards of a whist hand; Fig. 2 is an edge view of the filled holder in its folded condition; and Fig. 3 is a section taken ap proximately on line 3-3 of Fig; 1, on a somewhat larger scale.

Referring to the drawing, 1 represents a sheet of strong flexible material that may conveniently be heavy tough paper. The ends of the sheet are folded inwardly on the same side of the sheet, as indicated at 2 and 3. A slit 4 is cut through each ofthe sections or flaps 2 and 3 and the underlying portion of the body of the sheet; these slits being midway between the ends of the flaps and extending transversely of the latter. Two pieces of gummed paper or tapes 5 and 6 are then passed through the slit in each section and the underlying slitin the body The dotted lines 7 indicate one end of each of the strips or tapes whose opposite end may be assumed to terminate at the upper or lower edge of the device as viewed in Fig. 1. It will be seen that after the strips or tapes are applied the device will consist of a central plain portion, at opposite sides of which are two pairs of pockets.

The parts are so proportioned that the desired number of cards, thirteen if the game is whist, may be placed in each of the four pockets, the cards being indicated at A in the drawing, the cards opposite each other being spaced apart so as to permit the holder to be folded along a central line, which may be the dotted line 8 in Fig. 1.

Near the four corners of the holder, on the faces of the flaps, are placed characters to determine the players who shall hold the cards. Thus the characters I, II, III, and IV indicate that players one, two, three and four shall hold the cards in the pockets correspondingly marked on the holder; one of the characters on the holder as, for example, the character IV, having a circle marked around the same to indicate that player Number Four is assumed to be the dealer;

After the cards have been removed from the holder and a hand is being played, each player keeps his cards before him so that, after the play has been completed, the cards may be returned to the holder in the same pockets in which they were originally contained. When the hand is afterwards returned to the players who played it before, either the players or the cards are shifted, so that partners will hold the cards that were previously held by their opponents.

Upon preparing the various hands, each holder is folded as shown in Fig. 2, with the open ends of the pockets directed to- Ward the central fold, whereby the cards are prevented from dropping out, while the holder with the cards contained in the same takes up very little space. After ahand has been played and returned to the holder, the holder is again folded until the hand is to be replayed, thus insuring against accidental disturbance of the cards.

- through each section and the underlying portion of the sheet and each extending along opposite sides of the device to and past one edge.

2. A device of the character described comprising a sheet of tough paper having a flap at each end of a width less than onefourth of the length of the sheet folded inwardly, two gummed fastening strips threaded through the middle of each flap and the underlying portion of the body of the sheet, each strip being carried in contact with the device along both sides thereof to and past one of the edges of the same.

In testimony whereof I sign this specification.

J AMES 1*]. ILEVV. 

